Residents, business leaders fight over high-rises in Pompano

On one side are residents, who fear new high-rises would block ocean views, cut access to the beach, make it harder to find a parking place and increase traffic, which already crawls during the busy winter tourist season.

"We don't need any 20-, 30- or 40-story buildings along our beach," said Pat Enlow, 71, who lives down the street from the proposed 22-story Ocean Heights development planned for State Road A1A, south of Northeast 12th Street. "I think many of us worry that they'll change the flavor of the beach and drive a lot of us away."

On the other side of the issue are business leaders, who say that without millions in new beach construction to boost the tax base and generate revenue, residents will soon face higher property taxes and cuts in city services.

"There's been so much opposition to redevelopment in the beach area that time has sort of passed us by," said Doug Everett, president and CEO of the Greater Pompano Beach Chamber of Commerce. "We have such a mix of cultural and racial and economic conditions, and there is such a diverse opinion of what we want to be, that it's been very difficult to build a consensus."

Since the 1970s, only one new tower, the 10-story Spa Atlantis resort, has been built. It opened in 2002.

Three decades ago, city commissioners decided that the nearly two dozen high-rises flanking the beach, ranging in height from about 12 to 28 stories, were tall enough. Eager at that time to protect ocean views and preserve their laid-back culture, commissioners slapped restrictions on new towers so that they could not exceed 10 stories.

But the tide changed in the late 1990s, when a pro-growth commission eliminated the height limit, and in 2000 went even further by loosening setback requirements so developers could put up even bigger buildings.

Those actions opened the floodgates to lofty proposals from developers for towers reaching 43, 50, even more than 100 stories. But the Federal Aviation Administration said the 43-story Ocean Heights and the 50-story Marquis proposals were so tall they would interfere with air traffic.

"We've had some outrageous proposals," said Pompano Beach Mayor Kay McGinn, who opposes high-density growth on the beach.

In the past two years, city commissioners have faced vocal opposition to development from residents in the eastern part of the city, many of them retirees. Their opposition played a major role in city elections last March, when a pro-development commission was transformed to one that favors a slower-growth approach. Their vociferousness also caught the attention of county commissioners, who point to the massive proposals in Pompano Beach as the main reason the entire barrier island is under such intense scrutiny.

Today, there are 17 projects proposed or under construction between the Intracoastal Waterway and the beach that would add condos, townhouses, stores, offices, restaurants, boat storage and parking spaces.

Though commissioners are cautious, they aren't willing to go too far on restricting growth.

Last month, they refused to back McGinn's request to require voter approval before the city could sell two oceanfront parking lots just north of Atlantic Boulevard for development. In 2002, those 10 acres of public land received the go-ahead from the commission to become home to two 30- to 40-story condo towers and a new International Swimming Hall of Fame.

In March, the newly elected commission reversed course and torpedoed the plans, even though developer Michael Swerdlow offered to reduce the height of the project. He has sued the city and his lawsuit is pending.

Officials have yet to figure out what to do with the property.

Attorney Debbie Orshefsky, who represented Swerdlow on the project, said cities like Pompano Beach and Fort Lauderdale, where elected officials are demanding more "reasonable" growth, may never see their beach parcels developed.

"When you tell a developer that you just want more `reasonable' growth, that's half the size of the project being proposed, the land value and costs of construction have gone so far beyond that reasonable level that you end up with projects that don't get developed," she said.

While the city has spent more than $300,000 on studies and consultants to chart a course for redeveloping its beach, it remains in limbo, said Assistant City Manager Mark Lauzier.

"We can't do anything right now because we don't have the proper land use," Lauzier said. "I think where we're heading as a city is balancing the pressures of overdevelopment with no development and finding a middle road where we have quality development and smart growth and mixed uses."

Robin Benedick can be reached at rbenedick@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7914.